Pride and Prejudice - Yu Gi Oh Style
by music-mermaid007
Summary: It is a truth universally acknowledged that when three new arrivals join a new school there will be gossip, drama and the prospect of new romances... this is Pride and Prejudice with a Yu Gi Oh twist. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

It was just a normal day for most of the students at Domino High School. For the young adults of 13O however, this day would mean the introduction of two new students into their large yet friendly class. For the past weeks, rumours had been spreading like wildfire about the three newcomers.

"I hear they bought one of them bought mansion in the richest part of Domino."

"Someone told me that they are they are the richest people in the whole city."

"Did you know that one of them is Seto Kaiba. I mean THE Seto Kaiba of Kaiba Corp."

"They are rumoured to be the best-looking people in the whole city."

"ARGH!" Tea Gardener had shouted to the rest of her friends as they were sitting down to eat lunch the day before. They had passed each table and each table were speculating on the new arrivals. "Why can't everyone get a life? Surely they have better things to talk about!"

Tristan Taylor, Yugi Mutou and his twin Atem, Mai Valentine and Rebecca Dawkins shared a brief look. "Well I heard-" Mai began, winking at her other friends.

"Oh please don't start Mai, I don't think I could cope." Tea groaned hitting her head softly on the table, making the rest of her friends laugh.

"Just you wait Tea, I'm sure you'll be as captivated by the newcomers as everyone else sooner or later." Tristan chuckled throwing a grape into his mouth.

"I don't know Tristan," Atem's replied, his deep, masculine voice seeming to reverberate around the canteen. "Once our Tea's mind is set, nothing can change her opinion." He looked sideways at Tea and gave her a small smirk. "Isn't that right Tea?"

Tea looked up briefly, blushing at Atem's words and reddening even further at his expression before burying her head in her arms inwardly groaning at her silliness. Why oh why couldn't she think of a super sassy comeback? Every time she looked into those oh so deep crimson eyes... She shook herself. She had been in love with her best friend's twin brother ever since she had met him. She had tried to fight it. But how could she resist the attractive, sporty flirtiness of that boy. But she had encountered that problem that so many other girls have; he didn't see her as more than a friend. Or if he did, he was very, very, very good at hiding it.

"Anyway..." Yugi said, eyeing Tea on the table and thinking it best he changed the subject. He, like all the others, knew about Tea's 'secret' crush on Atem. In fact the only one that didn't seem to have a clue was Atem himself. But Yugi didn't like it. He didn't like it one bit. Why? Because _he_ was Tea's best friend and if anybody had the right to go out with her it was him. Yugi had wanted to ask Tea out for quite some time now. But together with his own shy and retiring personality and her own obvious preference for his brother had stopped him from making his move. He continued. "I hear Daisy's got a party coming up at her place, you guys for coming?"

He listened out particularly to Tea's reply; after all he had asked the question for her. When all he heard was an unintelligible mumble he asked everyone else.

"Anyone care to translate for me; I don't speak Tea."

"I think you'll find she said she was considering it but she will have to ask her parents first as it is one a school day." His brother helpfully replied. Yugi also turned an odd shade of pink as he glowered back at his brother. Atem had been the last person Yugi wanted to have understood Tea. Now, he noticed, Tea had turned her face to look up at Atem, her eyes twinkling. These were the moments Yugi wished he was taller and stronger than his brother so he could give him a good thump.

Mai, who saw and understood all, thought it wise to move the subject on before a war broke out. "So, who's up for some more to eat? Tristan, Atem can you come with me for some more?"

The two agreed, the latter half-heartedly, leaving the others in peace.

* * *

Despite Tristan's predictions, the day of the newcomers arrival brought no more excitement to Tea.

"Class, please settle." The teacher in front of them said. 13O were at once silent, knowing what was to come. "Thank you. As you well know, we have some new students joining us today." She beckoned through the window at the door and it opened revealing two boys and a girl who walked slowly into the room. "I would like to introduce Joey Wheeler and Seto Kaiba." Whispers rippled around the class. Seto Kaiba was the CEO of the very illustrious KaibaCorp. He had rumoured to have left his private school and they had obviously been true, judging by his appearance in the classroom.

Tea's eye was drawn to this Seto Kaiba. He was handsome; his chestnut hair just covering his cobalt-blue eyes and his tall figure. However, any attraction she may have felt towards this man disappeared as she noticed the scowl on his face. Joey on the other hand was beaming at the other students in front of him. Now this boy, Tea immediately warmed to. He had a lovely smile and a friendly aura around him. His eyes seemed often to fall upon Mai who Tea was surprised to see had a faint blush on her cheeks as she smiled slightly back at the boy. Tea made a mental note to quiz her friend about this.

"Students, please sit down." Joey hesitated slightly before heading to sit down in front of the Tristan. Seto took a seat in front of Tea and the teacher continued.

"So class we will begin today by finishing the remainder of Romeo and Juliet. Please turn to Act 5 Scene 2..."

The class continued and was soon over. The rest of the class bustled out of the classroom, all were intimidated by the imposing figure of Seto Kaiba and his scowl put them off. Tristan on the other hand was chatting freely to Joey. They had worked together on one of the tasks that the teacher had set and seemed to be getting on very well indeed. Tristan introduced Joey to the rest of the gang whilst Joey introduced them all to his friend.

"Tristan, this is my good friend Seto Kaiba. Don't worry; he always has this much of a sour face." He elbowed Kaiba who raised his eyebrows, not portraying any emotion.

"It's nice to meet you both." Tea said warmly to the two strangers in front of them. "Oh, if you want we could give you a tour of the school."

She watched as Kaiba rolled his eyes at Joey and she reddened with embarrassment. All she was trying to do was be friendly. She hung her head slightly, but she felt an arm stroke her back softly; surprised she looked round to see Yugi who was looking at her in a concerned way. She gave him a small smile and looked to the other boy. Joey either ignored Kaiba completely or hadn't noticed his sign as he beamed at her (she honestly couldn't understand how anyone could smile so much), and said they'd be delighted so long as they didn't mind picking up his little sister from her class and letting her tag along too, if she wanted. So the group of them first headed to Serenity's classroom. They found her there sitting on her own with her lunch. Tea immediately noticed that Serenity looked sad; it was even sadder that on her first day no one was welcoming her. Her features brightened up immensely as she saw her brother and she ran up to him, her eyes wide; immediately the shy girl was transformed into a beauty. Tea felt someone nudge her arm and she turned to see Tristan trying to walk towards Serenity, his mouth open and his eyes sparkling. She pushed him back gently and pinched him hard and that seemed to break him out of his trance. She returned to watch Joey hug his sister.

"Big brother!" She said, her voice trilling.

Joey held his sister out at arms width, by her shoulders. "Serenity you promised you'd try to make some friends." He said in a tired voice.

"I...I..." Serenity began mumbling and looking at the floor. Tea was just about to step in when Mai stepped towards Serenity.

"There's still time yet, isn't there hun." And she winked at Serenity. To Joey's surprise, Serenity looked at Mai and then Joey and then back at Mai and giggled. "Fancy coming with us for a tour around the school?" Mai offered kindly. Serenity nodded and then it was sorted.

Joey looked at Mai in amazement as Serenity started babbling about how her day had been so far. Tea thought she understood what was going on; Serenity was a shy girl, and found it hard to make friends. Joey was surprised that Serenity had warmed to Mai so easily; in truth Tea wasn't. If anyone could bring someone out of their shell it was Mai!

She heard as much from Kaiba and Joey who had begun to lag behind. She, Tristan and Yugi had taken a place in front of the two new boys; Tristan was ranting on about Serenity and how beautiful she was ("Quietly Tristan, you don't want her brother to hear you!"), Yugi changed the subject to Duel Monsters, allowing Tea to zone out eavesdrop on the conversation behind.

* * *

"I do not understand why you decided we should move to this school."

"I believe it was a group decision Kaiba, besides Serenity needed a change of scene, after..." He trailed off, knowing Kaiba would understand.

"Yes" Kaiba replied shortly, "But this school of all places. It is much less," he sniffed, "Refined than our last."

"Well maybe it's good for you Kaiba. And all of us. Besides I like it very much so far."

Soon Joey left Kaiba to go and spend some time with Serenity and Mai. Tea watched as the three interacted. It was really nice. And Tea kept catching Joey and Mai shooting each other furtive glances. Both had slight blushes on their faces when Joey left the two girls to return once again to his solitary friend.

"Aren't they so nice! It's real sporting of them to help us out like this." Said Joey.

Tea heard Kaiba laugh sarcastically. "Oh yes, I'm having a whale of a time."

There was a pause. "Why don't you talk to them instead of keeping to yourselves? You would like them all I am sure. And I reckon, five minutes with Tea and you may be on the way to losing that attitude of yours."

"Wheeler let me set one thing straight. I wouldn't get within 5 yards of that girl. She repels me. Her attitude: annoying. Her looks: even worse. She would be the last girl I would ever talk to. I would much rather walk on my own. And as for my attitude, I see nothing wrong with it."

"Kaiba, you cannot mean that. She's a wonderful girl." Joey said shortly, ignoring the latter comment. Tea's heart swelled, gratitude filling her to this new boy. However, her mind was filled predominantly by the harsh and rude comments made by his friend. How could such a boy be friends with someone like Joey? Her pride had been offended and she had no desire to talk to Kaiba ever again. He had lost her respect, her initial vague interest and any chance of friendship. _Who would want him as an acquaintance anyway. Jerk._

The rest of the time was spent mainly conversing with Joey. Tea couldn't wait to be rid of the other stranger. They parted, mainly cordially, but Joey's warmth made up for the cold, severe attitudes of Kaiba.

* * *

Tea and Mai got together that evening for a sleepover. It was a Monday night, and that meant a girly night-in and sleepover. It was the prime time to grill Mai on her knew (obvious) crush on the blonde Brooklyn boy.

Tea slyly brought up the subject when they were making some popcorn before starting the movie.

"The new people seemed interesting."

"Mmhmm," Mai said whilst licking off some of the caramel they were making to coat the popcorn.

"Joey was especially interesting, don't you think?" She said as casually as she could. She was rewarded with the reaction of Mai choking on the bit of caramel she was eating, reddening.

"Oh come on Mai give over, you like him don't you?"

There was a pause. "He smiles too much. He's dopey, says some _really_ stupid things, and has such a naive outlook on life. I wonder why he hasn't been robbed or worse already."

Another pause ensued.

"So in other words you like him."

"I didn't say-"

"Whatever Mai, it is obvious."

"Well I'm not going to just jump into his arms. He's gonna have to work to get me."

"So you admit you do like him then?"

"I DIDN'T SAY-"

"Give over Mai. It's true. Don't deny it."

The tete-a-tete between the two girls gave them the giggles and they laughed for some time before continuing with their evening.

"Seto Kaiba seemed nice." Mai brought up, raising her eyebrows, seeing if there was any reaction from her friend.

Tea snorted. "That boy? Ha!" And proceeded to relate everything she had overheard between the three when they had spoken. Mai's reaction was first incredulity and then an extreme dislike to the boy that had offended her best friend.

"Well, you deserve better anyway hun." And that ended that subject.

The girls had a wonderful evening and it was soon time for bed. The next day was early and Tea was especially interested to see if the interest that Joey had shown towards her best friend would continue the next day.


	2. Chapter 2

Tuesday involved a double period of Literature; Tea's favourite subject. She was especially enjoying it at present as the theme of the term was 'Romance through the Ages'. Tea walked with a spring in her step and a smile on her face to the class, her smile growing ever wider as she took her place at the front of the class remembering that today they would begin studying her favourite Jane Austen novel: Pride and Prejudice.

"Now class," The teacher said with raised voice over the chatter, "As I'm sure you've heard we have been struggling to recruit a new Literature teacher after the sad departure of Mr Pope. The remaining Literature teachers and I have been trying to cover Mr Pope's lessons as best we can. And the only way we can seem to manage the staffing problem is for me to teach two classes at once."

She sighed, shaking her head slightly. "As you are the most senior class I feel I can trust you enough to leave you to read and analyse on this text with minimal input from me." Whispering throughout the class made the teacher raise her voice slightly to be heard, "I will leave clear guidance for you to follow and you are always welcome to come and see me between classes. But for this approach to work I think we need you to work closely as a team. I will be splitting you into pairs – each pair will need to focus on a few elements of the book in order to achieve their credits. Only together will you be successful - I expect discipline, conscientiousness and teamwork to make this run smoothly. I know this isn't ideal - but it's also a challenge which I believe all of you are more than capable of rising to.

"Now," The teacher's eyes glittered with excitement as she continued, "In order for you all to really feel connected to this novel, I thought we'd try something a little different. You all will be part of a class performance of Pride and Prejudice to the whole school at the end of the term." Some scattered groans emanated around the classroom (the loudest originating from Tristan) as well as some excited titters, mainly from the girls in the class. "I therefore expect you all to rehearse as well as analyse the text whilst I'm teaching the other students." The teacher continued, pulling a sheet of paper from her satchel. "This is a list of the pairs to which you're allocated - I'll pin this up on the board now. Once you've found your pair please start discussing what you think the main focus of your study should be - I'm sure all of you have heard of Pride and Prejudice before so will have a vague idea of the story line so it shouldn't be too difficult! I'll be moving through the class to check your progress and to hand out the roles for the performance. Any questions? No? Excellent, off you go then!"

The teacher pinned the list on the classroom board and stepped out of the way as all the students charged towards the board, jostling each other to have the first look. Tea's prime position at the front of the classroom meant she was one of the first to reach the list of names. Praying she would be paired with Atem she scanned the piece of paper quickly looking for her name. Her name was the penultimate on the list. And the final name, not Atem Mutou, oh no. Was Seto Kaiba.

Her stomach dropping in disappointment she turned slowly and found that very boy standing right behind her. Tilting her head to look up at his face, she noticed that for once he wasn't scowling; instead he carried a bored, indifferent expression. Without looking down at her once, he turned away and strode back to his desk, settling back into his seat, looking towards the blackboard at the front of the room.

 _That arrogant son of a-,_ Tea thought, grinding her teeth as she followed her partner over to his desk. She forced a smile onto her face.

"I guess we're working together then Kaiba," She said through gritted teeth.

He inclined his head reply but made no verbal response.

They sat in silence for a while, Tea's eyes continuing to bore into her partner's face; Kaiba's staying straight ahead. In the end, Tea cracked

"We'll need to have at least some sort of conversation if we want to complete this project." She snapped, losing all patience.

Kaiba inclined his head again but again remained mute, infuriating Tea even more. She opened her mouth to make a rude retort but noticed a faint smirk on Kaiba's face. Was he _mocking_ her?! Refusing to rise to the bait, Tea bit back her retort, going red in her anger.

The teacher chose that moment to visit the pair. "So Tea, Seto, how's it going?" She asked enthusiastically, "Have you sorted out where you're going to begin?" Opening her mouth to reply in the negative, Tea was surprised when Kaiba replied to the teacher himself.

"Yes we have. Miss Gardener and I have decided to focus on two of the principal themes within the book, reputation and class. We'll be following these through the book. We will also be keeping a character log about major developments in the antagonist's characters." Tea turned her eyes incredulously onto Kaiba but his gaze did not leave the teacher.

"Well, that sounds very impressive, well done to you both. But there is a third theme that is integral to the book that you missed – love. Familial love, friendly love and, of course, romantic love especially between the two antagonists. Now, you've inspired me with so much confidence in you both I'd like to offer you the starring roles of our production: Seto you will be Mr Darcy and you Tea will be Miss Elizabeth Bennett. Isn't that great?"

The teacher obviously missed the fact that Kaiba had gone white as a sheet and Tea had gone an odd shade of green. She gave the pair one more encouraging smile and walked over to the next pair.

"Thanks a lot Kaiba." Tea muttered sarcastically.

"I didn't see you offer any suggestions before she arrived." Kaiba muttered under his breath.

"That's because you'd refused to talk to me!"

They continued to bicker before falling into a sullen silence, broken only by the teacher.

"Now class, I know you will be surprised to know that that is the end of the lesson. Please report back here to the next lesson having done some research in your pairs about your specialised topic. You are all dismissed."

Kaiba stood up almost immediately as the teacher had finished speaking and stalked out of the classroom without giving Tea any note of farewell.

 _That boy,_ she fumed as she ferociously stuffed all her belongings into her satchel.

"Woah Tea, what's gotten into you?" Tristan asked as he walked over to watch Tea stuff her pencil case into the depths of her bag.

"Stupid. Boy." She muttered incoherently and a spark of understanding hit Tristan and he smiled.

"Oh well you know what they say: there is a fine line between hate and love. Oh but wait, you will be focussing on that, won't you Tea?" He winked.

"Seto Kaiba is arrogant, rude, pig-headed, a complete know-it-all, the whole lot! And Tristan Taylor if you ever mention that I am studying love with him again, or that, doubtless you have heard, I am Elizabeth and he is Darcy, I will personally kill you. Alright?" She added sweetly at the end.

"Elizabeth and Mr Darcy, eh?" Tristan gaffawed, "Absolutely BRILLIANT" He roared with laughter.

"Oh shut up." Tea grumbled, lifting her bag onto her back. As she did so she caught sight of Mai and Joey who were also still in the classroom. The two were talking shyly together. Tea could tell at a distance Mai was enjoying herself. She'd dropped her usual swagger and was blinking up at Joey through her hair, which she was fiddling with mindlessly. Tea smiled, this was a side to Mai that was very different to the front she normally presented. The sound of someone clearing her throat brought Tea's attention back to herself and saw a girl standing in front of her, with green bunches. Daisy, no doubt one of the girls that had been giggling at the teacher's mention of a play.

"Um hi." She said.

"Hey Daisy." Tea said warmly, "Everything okay?"

"Yeah Tea, just wanted to check, are you guys coming to my house party?"

Tea and Tristan looked at one another. Tea inclined her head. Her mother had albeit cautiously allowed her to go, with a warning not to be back late. "Sure, we'll be there."

The girl made a high, triumphant noise before moving away to speak to Mai and Joey on the other side of the room.

"C'mon," Tristan said, glancing at the couple, "Who knows how long they're going to be." And the pair left the classroom to go for their next lesson.

* * *

And hello again :). Thanks for sticking with me, or if you're new to the story then welcome! Sorry for the hiatus, but I'm already working on the next chapter so hopefully won't be too long till it's out. Let me know what you think!


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